Here is a snap shot of the love seats, also known as "Kærlighedssæder." Photo via Kadaver Off the Record.

Looking for love? Ride the bus!

Starting on May 3, Danish transport company Arriva introduced red-upholstered designated “love seats” on more than 100 buses in Copenhagen to encourage flirtation, smiles, romance and happiness among the city’s passengers, whether they’re happily single, married or still looking for love. The bigger idea — besides being cute — is to get people to leave their cars parked at home and enjoy riding public transportation, as more of a social endeavor.

“You never know what will happen,” spokesman Martin Wex told AFP. “We cannot guarantee that you will find the person of your dreams. We are just offering the possibility for people to communicate, to smile a bit more and possibly, to win someone’s heart.”

The love seat experiment will last for two weeks.

Marianne Faerch, a business developer with Arriva, which runs the majority of buses in Copenhagen, said in an interview with BBC that she has seen an increase in ridership. She says these campaigns are meant to show people that “you can actually take the bus and get a good experience out of it, and maybe, love.”

Maybe the Danes are really on to something. How can we make public transportation more socially appealing?

FREAKS AND WEIRDOS

There are scores of studies that show the extent of anti-social behavior on public buses. A Scotland study found the main types of behavior to include “rudeness/verbal abuse, drunken behaviour, the dumping of litter/rubbish and smoking cigarettes.” To reduce these nuisances, the study says, solutions may include installing closed-circuit television cameras and “safety screens,” or hiring undercover police and police escorts on important routes. But wouldn’t that just add to a heightened level of insecurity, paranoia and sterility?

And let’s not forget that poorly designed inconvenient transportation — whether it’s overcrowded, delayed or noisy — can also contribute to stress and tension.

With such a strong stigma already attached to riding mass transit, especially in the United States, it’s important that transit designers and operators figure out how to make the experience more enjoyable, even if it’s on a superficial basis. (Otherwise, car companies might have more ammunition to produce ads like this “freaks and weirdos ride the bus” from General Motors.)

GETTING SOCIAL

Earlier this year, a study was released that showed the social needs and behaviors of more than 1,700 train and bus riders in New Zealand. The researcher, Jared Thomas, found that 50 percent of respondents said they intentionally engage in isolating activities, such as listening to music or reading, to discourage conversation. The conclusion? “Side-by-side seating arrangements and standoffish behaviors create a socially uncomfortable environment akin to a crowded elevator.” It appears that in an effort to maximize capacity, buses have ignored interpersonal comfort.

Some suggestions for making transit more socially accommodating, according to Thomas and other experts:

Alter seats to face each other

Provide L-shaped seating, arm rests and small tables

Replace awkward three-person benches with two-person or single seating

Please, no TVs in the bus! I lived in Beijing for a few months and that was the most obmoxious thing in the world. The same commercials played over and over, it was infuriating. TVs to a captive audience–they only alienate us further from the people sitting next to us. I think that there should be ways to break down the social barriers in a public service such as the metro, and this Love Seat idea is a step in the right direction. Not a TV.

They used to have love seats in a cinema (Germany) where I went (basically, the armrest was missing). I don’t like buses, but a bus love seat wouldn’t convince me to use one either. If I want to cuddle with my husband, I know better places than buses.

Where’s the picture at the top from? I certainly hope that no bus or train company is marketing the bench seats by the doors as “loveseats”. These seats are typically priority seats for people with disabilities, those with mobility problems, pregnant women, and so on, and encouraging everyone to use them is going to make the seats less available for people who really need them.

I’m a bit surprised this is coming from Arriva. They’re a British company, so I do hope they don’t try to import this idea over here.

When buses are crowded, will passengers will be forced to open themselves to “flirtation”?

Heh, this is actually the first thing that came to mind for me (and I’m in Europe, though not Denmark). In the big city in which I live, buses are generally crowded, and the people riding them can basically be divided into people who stare at their feet and keep to themselves and people who are loud and obnoxious – so I don’t see it working out here.